NCC sets up 18-member committee to unravel sector’s challenges

To actualize and deepen the impact of Research and Development on the telecommunications sector, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has inaugurated 18-member inter-agency committee to achieve this.

The committee’s mandate is to evaluate research submissions to aid the sector’s growth beyond the current level. The committee, whose membership is drawn from different professions and the academics is chaired by Professor Muazu Mohammed Bashir of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, who inaugurated the committee at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja, yesterday, told the committee that the aim was to find local solutions to the challenges of the industry.

This, he said, was in tandem with President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s policy for Nigerians to find lasting solutions to the challenges facing the country.

Danbatta stressed that to achieve this goal, the commission decided to use the capacity found in the academic sector and to redirect it towards getting involved in research activities that could impact on businesses and society, which will consequently bring about the development of new products and services for the industry.

He listed some recent developments in the Commission to include the creation of Research and Development Department to consolidate all research activities thereby giving research activities a priority attention.

“Not too long ago this year, the Commission hosted Stakeholders’ Consultative Forum with the academia involving vice chancellors drawn from 61 universities across the country in consultation with the National Universities Commission (NUC) where discussions and contributions of the participants emphasised the importance of relationship between the academia and the industry and how best to benefit from that relationship,” he said.

The response to the advert requesting for research proposals from the academia was quite encouraging this year. Records of the Research and Development Department showed that 96 submissions were recorded this year as against 56 of the previous year.

Responding, the Head of Research and Development, Iyabo Sholanke, said that the EVC, who came from the academic sector decided to review the NCC configuration to fully execute the eight-point agenda to achieve its strategic plans.

According to her, the programme is a cardinal effort of the commission to boost activities in the academia and create new value propositions for stakeholders.

She enjoined the committee members to ensure that the exercise will not be an open-ended one but efforts should be made to put timeline that will be realistic within the period stipulated which is first week of December this year.